Employing U.S. President Donald Trump’s marquee slogan, Prime Minister Mark Carney told a New York City business crowd on Thursday that “Canada strong will help make America great again,” a remark the U.S. envoy to this country said was “worth repeating.”
Speaking at the Economic Club of New York, the prime minister detailed his economic diversification strategy, and his plans to recalibrate Canada’s relationships and reputation.
“We’re focused on what we can control, and that means weaving a dense web of international partnerships abroad. That’s making us a much stronger, more resilient, more independent country,” Carney told the business crowd.
Touting some key areas where the federal Liberals have made progress, Carney sought to make the case for why Canada and the U.S. should continue to co-operate in key sectors.
“Above all, as you would expect, we’re focused on things that are good for Canada. This is good for all Canadians, but it’s also good for the United States,” the prime minister said. “Because a stronger Canada is a better ally.”
Describing Canada’s efforts to become more autonomous as a “core” objective of his government, Carney also played on how continuously integrated the Canadian and American markets are despite Trump’s trade war and sectoral tariffs.
“While Canada and the United States have had our differences over the centuries, we have always worked and eventually worked through them because we share values and our common interests run deep,” he said.
“They run through our economies. Canada is America’s largest customer. We buy more goods from America than China, Japan and Germany combined,” the prime minister continued.
“Those common interests run through our supply chains, where 70 per cent of Canadian exports are inputs to American cars, homes, aircraft, machinery, finished goods, creating hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars of U.S. value-add.”
Going on to note the various degrees to which the U.S. relies on Canadian natural gas, electricity, and crude oil imports, Carney said “that is mutual strength.”
Carney’s comments pitching Canada as an investment destination – and his short trip south of the border more broadly – come as relations between Canada and the U.S. remain rocky ahead of a review of the Canada United States Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).
Without offering specifics, the prime minister told the room of financial and industry heavyweights that his government has made “specific, practical proposals to the U.S. administration” to move past the current era of tension.
And in a first sign of a potential thaw, it appears Carney’s line evoking “MAGA” went over very well with U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra.
“PM Carney said something worth repeating today: ‘A Canada strong will help make America great again.’ I think a lot of Americans can get behind that kind of positive message,” he said on X, reposting a video of the prime minister’s speech.
‘We’ll work our way through’
During a post-speech fireside chat, Carney was asked what makes him optimistic about the Canada-U.S. economic relationship going forward.
Starting on economics, the prime minister pointed to the global energy crisis and how Canada “can be part of the solution,” for American shortages.
He also argued that allowing the North American auto, steel, and aluminum sectors to become a true “fortress,” would be “in everyone’s interest.”
Noting ways Canada has taken more responsibility when it comes to arctic and continental security, Carney then pivoted to talking about values, and how both countries share “core values” when it comes to freedom and liberty.
“That’s ultimately where we stand and that reasserts over time, so we’ll work our way through,” the prime minister said.
Carney also faced questions about the Canada-China relationship, which he said was “in need of a reset,” after diplomatic relations had “broken down,” and the trade relationship was “fraught.”
And how Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine has him thinking about Canada’s defence strategy, the prime minister admitted the country had “been a laggard” on overall spending but isn’t anymore.
Mixed reaction to PM’s speech
Back on this side of the border, reaction to Carney’s U.S. speech was mixed.
Rising in the House of Commons to offer his rebuttal to the prime minister’s remarks, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre joked that Carney was in New York to “expand his favourite export: speeches.”
“And once again, it was filled with more of his seemingly sophisticated, but highly contradictory buzzwords,” Poilievre said. “On the one hand, he says that we are in the middle of a rupture with the United States, while on the other, he says he wants to make America – in his words – great again.”
“His elbows were again flapping up and down, in the rhetorical chicken dance, as he cannot seem to decide if integration with the U.S. is a strength or a weakness, he’s argued passionately for both positions in the last three months alone,” he continues.
Poilievre then said that despite Carney’s comments, in his estimation Canada is “on exactly the same track.”
Business Council of Canada CEO Goldy Hyder had a different take. In an interview on CTV News Channel Thursday, he said he thought Carney was “pitch perfect” in acknowledging the areas where Canada needs to do better.
“What’s happening up here in Canada is a good story, and it’s great to hear the prime minister tell it in New York,” Hyder said. “I think the tone the prime minister struck, of, you know, what is good for Canada is also good for America, is an important one.”
With files from CTV News’ Spencer Van Dyk